http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/business/story.html?id=a62eeb99-07dd-4a1d-8f9e-69675e6cb44c Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist Published: Friday, March 07, 2008
The financially battered town of Gold River is getting a major injection of hope.
On March 17, after five years of planning ups and downs, ground will be broken on Green Island Energy's Gold River power project, which will convert the former Bowater pulp mill into a thermal power plant.
The two boilers will burn biomass -- organic waste -- which will be barged to deep-sea docks beside the plant from municipalities in B.C. and the U.S.
The waste, known as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), is largely unrecyclable paper, construction debris and wood waste, said Green Island spokesman Bruce Clark.
The process involves sorting residential and industrial solid waste, removing glass and metal, shredding some of the bulkier objects and then wrapping the material into bales.
The result is a green way of reducing greenhouse gases, by taking material out of the landfill, while producing much-needed power for Vancouver Island, Clark said.
Green Island has many sources of RDF, but Clark is disappointed that Metro Vancouver is, for now, unwilling to look at shipping its waste to Gold River, instead of building its own massive incinerators.
"We are a B.C. company and we want to offer this resource to communities around the province," he said.
Once the power project is operating at full scale it will create a total savings of 2.4 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to a Green Island release.
"In other words ... it equates to 4,980 Olympic swimming pools of garbage removed from landfills or 228,766 cars taken off the road," it says.
The company has a contract with B.C. Hydro to buy the power and believes the first two phases will produce enough energy to power 90,000 homes, with the third phase powering an additional 50,000 homes.
Green Island was one of 38 independent power projects given B.C. Hydro contracts in 2006.
Construction of the $300-million, 90-megawatt facility will take about 26 months and Green Island has guaranteed B.C. Hydro it will be producing power by 2010, Clark said.
Between 150 and 200 people will be employed during the construction phase, with 146,000 days of construction employment expected, and, once completed, the plant will create about 60 full-time positions and an additional two dozen indirect jobs.
On top of the jobs, the best news for Gold River is restoration of its tax base, Clark said.
When the pulp mill closed in February 1999, it chopped about $1.8 million out of the village's annual budget of $3.2 million.
The village was forced to cut down on recreation services, such as reducing opening times at the swimming pool and skating rink.
The population shrank and schools were forced to downsize.
"We hope this will get the equilibrium back," said Clark, who would not estimate how much the project will pay in taxes.
"It will help restore programs and we hope it will reduce the cost to residential taxpayers, who are paying some of the highest taxes in the province," he said.
Gold River Deputy Mayor Lynne Unger said the plant will give the community the boost it needs.
"I am really excited about this. I am finding it hard to find a down side," she said.
"People in the community are feeling really optimistic. We've been waiting nine years for our wonderful deep-sea port to be utilized."
The groundbreaking ceremony will be attended by singer Jewel, one of the original investors in Green Island Energy.
Although Jewel is no longer an investor, she remains a supporter, Clark said.
"She will be at the ceremony and she has been known to break into song from time to time. I don't know what to expect," he said.
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